Police arrest St Helens man in John Kinsella murder investigation

Police investigating the murder of John Kinsella have made a further arrest.

A 40-year-old man from St Helens has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

The arrests follow action taken during a joint operation between GMP and Merseyside Police on May 30th, where three people were arrested in connection with the murder of John Kinsella in St Helens and Paul Massey in Salford.

The two victims are believed to have been close friends after pictures emerged of Mr Kinsella carrying Mr Massey's coffin at his funeral in 2015.

GMP yesterday arrested three further people in connection with the murder of Mr Massey

Four people remain in custody for questioning and two people (a 49-year-old man from Rochdale arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder of Paul Massey and a 35-year- old woman from Salford arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice) have been released under investigation.

John Kinsella, 53, died after being shot whilst walking his dog with his partner on a footpath, near to the St Helens Linkway and the M62 motorway in Rainhill, Merseyside, at 7am on May 5th.

The offender, who was on a pedal bike, also fired the gun at John’s partner as she ran away from the scene. A Home Office post-mortem concluded that John died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

A Home Office post-mortem concluded that Mr Kinsella died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Baker, of Merseyside Police’s Investigations team, said: “Detectives from Merseyside have been carrying out extensive inquiries since the murder of John Kinsella just three weeks ago and have established a number of positive leads.

“We have been working together with both GMP and Cheshire Police and as a result of our inquiries were able to carry out this joint operation today.”